


alternating current

by mgusleigh



Category: Formula 1 RPF, Formula E RPF
Genre: Alternate History, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:27:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28261650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mgusleigh/pseuds/mgusleigh
Summary: At Valencia testing in 2018, Alexander Albon took a call from Helmut Marko that saw him leave his Nissan e.Dams role before turning a wheel at Ricardo Tormo, ultimately signing to Toro Rosso. That bit’s true.This imagines clippings from a world where he had his phone on silent that morning.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 34





	alternating current

**Markelov signs to Toro Rosso in final piece of 2019 grid**

**16.10.2018**

2017 Formula 2 runner-up Artem Markelov will race alongside Daniil Kvyat in an all-Russian Toro Rosso lineup, completing 2020’s F1 lineup….  _ (sign in to continue reading) _

  
  
  


**Nissan e.Dams’ Albon “had a missed call from Dr Marko” but doesn’t regret FE choice**

**16th October 2018**

Alexander Albon has just completed his first day of pre-season testing for Nissan e.Dams - but might not have, if the session had started a few minutes later.

Speaking in a press conference with all the Season 5 rookies today, Albon said that he had returned from the morning session to a missed call from Helmut Marko, head of the Red Bull driver programme, following the news that Daniel Ricciardo has left their team for Renault. 

“I don’t actually know what he wanted to talk about - it went to voicemail when I phoned back, so maybe it was a pocket dial, I don’t know but when I got out of the car this morning, the first thing I saw was a missed call from Dr Marko,” Albon said. “I don’t - well, we all know, after Daniel said he was leaving, you know, you think about what it might mean but I can honestly say I’m happy to stay here and I’m really, super motivated after today.”

Albon said his first official Formula E sessions had been “really exciting” and that “there’s something really special about seeing all the cars out on track. You don’t get the feel for it, when you’re testing on your own. You just - you know how fast you’re going, obviously but you don’t get to see the way other cars move around you and just how close they can get, it’s bonkers.”

  
  
  
  
  


**Russell would rather be in struggling Williams than Formula E**

**27.02.2019**

2019 Williams rookie George Russell says that, despite a chaotic, delayed and ultimately slow start to the team’s pre-season testing, he is grateful to have found a way into Formula One. 

After finally testing the FW42, Russell said that although the situation was ‘not ideal,’ it was still one of the small number of opportunities in F1 and he would prefer to be signed to a struggling F1 team than to have missed out on the chance entirely.

“Obviously, it’s not been an ideal start to things but I am proud to be here and to be part of this team.” Russell said, “this year is going to be really difficult for us and I think it would be pretty silly of me to stand here and tell you anything else but there are twenty seats here and I’m very glad to be in one, to be honest.”

“It’s a bit daft - because, say, Alex Albon is one of the most talented drivers I’ve ever raced but ultimately, he didn’t have a chance of moving to F1.” Russell said, of his former junior series team mate, now a factory Nissan driver in Formula E. “And I’ve got no doubts at all that he’ll do really, really well in Formula E and more power to him, honestly but I know that he’s gutted not to have got an F1 chance and I would be, too.”

  
  
  


**Do Formula E drivers rue their F1 chances - or have they dodged a bullet?**

**16.04.2019**

Once viewed as a graveyard for Formula One off-cuts, Formula E drivers are now being drawn away from junior programmes to the series as manufacturers scramble for a competitive edge. With super-license-eligible youngsters coming to the series, feeder series reporter Angela Hill looks at whether Formula E is still a compromise or a solution to a blocked top-tier pipeline?

Jaguar’s Mitch Evans is one of several Formula E drivers to have gone on to success in the series after never getting a testing chance in F1. Following his emphatic win at the Rome E-Prix, the 2012 GP3 champion has established himself as not just a convincing threat in the series but a driver who has helped his team progress, scoring Jaguar’s first point, pole, podium and now race victory…

_ (sign in for full premium article) _

  
  
  


**Monaco podium “special” for Albon after missing out on F1 chances**

**11th May 2019**

A second-place finish for Alexander Albon has won him Nissan’s first podium as a factory team in Formula E and put him ahead of team mate Sebastien Buemi in the standings. 

Albon, who joined Formula E as a rookie this season, scored a points finish on his debut and both he and Buemi have consistently made Super Pole appearances. However, the prodigious single-lap speed of the dual-motor Nissan e.Dams car hasn’t always translated into race efficiency, with a miscalculation seeing them both run out of energy before the end of the Mexico E-Prix and several top-five finishes fall away due to power management.

That run was put to an end, however, in Monte Carlo as Albon chased race winner Jean-Eric Vergne to the chequered flag. 

“I’m really happy - actually, so, so happy about it, to be honest.” Albon said, after the race, “It’s obviously not been a very easy year for everyone and to take the first podium, especially here, is so special. I want to say a big thank you to the team and to JPD for believing in me.”

Asked if it meant more to take the podium at the Monaco E-Prix, in the home of F1, Albon said, “Yeah, it does a bit - obviously, I’d really like us to drive the proper track, I think it’d be so cool now, with these cars but there is a bit of a ‘**** you, I can do this’ to it, you know.”

  
  
  


**Albon says focus on Nissan powertrain “not especially fair”**

**15th July 2019**

Alexander Albon says scrutiny on Nissan e.Dams dual-motor powertrain has been excessive and exaggerated by other manufacturers.

“I think it’s just really easy, when only one team is using a dual-motor design, to point at that and say it’s different,” said Albon, after the New York E-Prix. “You know, you hear people - and there’s, you know who I’m talking about, obviously - moaning about it after the races and after practice and whatever and a lot of what they say is just rubbish but that doesn’t make a good headline.”

Regulations were changed partway through the season to mandate a single motor-generator unit, forcing Nissan to change their designs for season six, which Albon called ‘disappointing.’ 

“It is disappointing, yeah because this is interesting technology and - look, obviously, Seb just won and that’s really good but I think it is a bit of a shame to see a series like Formula E, where everything is so new, limiting what you can do.”

“Every team is doing different things,” he said. “It’s just that we’ve been easy to point at and I think it’s not especially fair to take away from that and say ‘oh, they’re only in Super Pole because of their powertrain’ because we’ve been working really hard all season. But it is what it is.”

  
  
  


**Kvyat returns to Red Bull team, replaces Gasly**

**12.09.2019**

Daniil Kvyat has returned to Red Bull’s top team, replacing Pierre Gasly, ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix.

The Russian driver was originally promoted from Toro Rosso following Sebastian Vettel’s move to Ferrari, in 2015, before being demoted for Max Verstappen (who he will now partner) in 2016, retained at Toro Rosso for the majority of 2017 before being dropped for 2018 and returning to drive for the junior team at the start of this season. 

Having out-scored rookie team mate Artem Markelov so far this season, including a third-place finish at rainswept Hockenheim, it would appear Kvyat has done enough to re-earn the favour of the programme that had previously rejected him.

  
  
  


**Norris having fun racing former junior series rivals in virtual world**

**21.04.2020**

Lando Norris has said he is enjoying virtually racing drivers he “missed” after moving to Formula One.

During a broadcast on streaming site Twitch, where Norris has regularly appeared to entertain fans during lockdown, he mused on how it was ‘a shame’ that he no longer got to race some of the drivers he had known in lower formulas.

“Didn’t think I’d be racing Alex [Albon] in 2020. Well, to be fair, I probably would’ve been a bit surprised if you’d told me George [Russell] was going to overtake me,” he told his viewers, after being crashed out of the virtual Chinese Grand Prix by a charging Leigh-Anne Pinnock of girl band Little Mix. “But good for him, honestly, it’s funny how it all works out. It’s a bit of a shame, really.”

Norris has become something of a minor internet celebrity during lockdown, thanks to his streaming and has run popular events racing other drivers. He said it would be different, when real-world racing returned, that some of them would no longer share a track, “I’ll miss seeing him crash into George, a bit, if we get back to racing. It’s funny because we were all in the same series like a year ago and now I guess something would have to go a bit wrong - well, it has, it’s gone a lot wrong, hasn’t it - for us to be all together again.”

Asked if he would consider joining Albon in Formula E’s sim racing Race At Home challenge, Norris rejected the idea, saying “No thanks, I know it might not always be obvious but I do have some self-respect.”

  
  
  


**Albon “not haunted” by missed Marko phonecall after maiden Formula E win**

**09.09.2020**

Speaking after winning the fourth race of Formula E’s Berlin season finale, Alexander Albon says he never aimed to be in the series but is motivated by the chance to win.

“To be honest, I don’t think I remember that as much as you guys do,” he said. “I’m not haunted by it or anything.”

“I don’t think I’ve lost out on anything - this whole time I’ve been fighting at the front, we’ve been in Super Pole since I’ve been in Formula E and I’ve had podiums and now a win. I don’t know, in Formula One - you know, I don’t know if it’s really satisfying not being able to score points.”

“Of course there’s always the dream and I didn’t start racing because I wanted to be in Formula E, Formula E didn’t even exist. But I did want to win and that’s why I’m here, now.”

**Author's Note:**

> this was meant to be a fun xmas day article but The Race nicked my idea & I guess AO3 is the proper place for it really
> 
> [tunglr](http://formulatrash.tumblr.com)


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